单选题 The author quotes Coleridge in order to______.

A、 refute the literary opinions of certain religious and political groups
B、 make a case for the inferiority of novels to poetry
C、 indicate how widespread was the attack on novels in the early 19^th century
D、 illustrate the early 19th century belief that fiction was especially appealing to young readers

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】因为在一般人看来，像Coleridge这类人不会对文学作品发表什么看法，而义中第一段居然出现他的评论，足可见attack on novels的范围之广，故选C。